Negros province is a stronghold of the...

LAND DISTRIBUTION.

October 17, 1986

BACOLOD, PHILIPPINES — LAND DISTRIBUTION. Negros province is a stronghold of the communist New People's Army. Roman Catholic Bishop Antonio Fortich blames inequitable land distribution as a major reason. President Corazon Aquino announced Thursday that property on which the state-owned Philippine National Bank has foreclosed will be handed over to unemployed sugar workers and farmers. She declared that the sugar industry is dead in the province, the Philippines' largest producer. ''There is just too much being produced for a market that has enough substitute or alternative sources,'' she said. Mrs. Aquino said some sugar mills and refineries should be closed. Vast tracts of sugar cane plantations may be planted with new crops, she said, but she warned the change would take time. The president was greeted by thousands of people, and about 20,000 people heard her speech in a stadium.